Search - Grover Washington Jr :: All the King's Horses (Dig)

Grover Second Time Out

Andre S. Grindle | Brewer Maine | 02/06/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Grover Washington's second album release finds him yet again produced by Bob James on an album that is about as CTI/Kudu as you can get.The album primarily mixes contemporary cover songs with adaptations of old jazz chestnuts.Frankly it's just my opinion that Grover was really at his best when he was playing original material specificially designed for his style of playing,which of course was very mellow for it's time;even between Hank Crawford and David Sanborn. There's apparently a Donny Hathaway/Roberta Flack fixation here as Flack's "No More Tears (In The End)" and the pairs "Where Is Love" are both covered-basically they're similar arrangement to the original except for the fact that the sax takes the place of the vocal on the melody line of course and the orchestration is actually quite a lot less sudtle. Aretha's bluesy title track actually inflects some bluesy soul phrasing that gives Grover more of a change to express himself in a more gutsy way.The three best songs on this album are the jazzier covers;that's not type casting in any way but "Body And Soul","Lover Man" and "Love Song 1700" especially all receive a wonderful treatment as the orchestration and the excellent rhythms provided by the likes of Billy Cobham,Cornell Dupree and Eric Gale give these chestnuts a then up-to-date funkiness,even if it is funk of the softer variety.The same thing happens on "Lean On Me",again another soul cover. So why am I giving five stars to an album that I also keep noting consists only of covers?Well because in previous eras of jazz some of the greatest contributions to the genre came from versions of other peoples songs. And on the first two Grover Washington Jr albums you get a chance to hear an artist beginning his career in that fine tradition. This is the music that ushered in that soft variety of jazz-funk soon to be known as pop jazz and that later morphed into what we now call smooth jazz. At the time this was recorded that particular transition hadn't yet occured;BJ's electric piano,Richard Tee's organ along with the guitars,Ron Carter's bass and Airto's percussion effects are still keeping this in the classic CTI/Kudu tradition of orchestrated jazz-funk. Grover was the major sax star of the label in the early to mid 1970's and this is yet another recording that finds him swimming in those very famous waters."

GROVER!!

zeak | pg cnty md | 12/23/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I have spoken Mr. Washington several times on this site, and the same goes for this disc. BUY IT!!!"

The beginning...

Kevin Buckner | Washington, DC | 01/02/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"My dad brought this home in the spring of my sophomore year in hs. Everytime I hear it it takes me back to a very special time in my life. My first experience with both Grover and Bob James...classic. Worth owning; cool, peaceful, hip...cat could play."